Mall worker pays for police officer’s cookie — what happens next is madness
The Great American Cookies company is on the defensive after what happened to an employee who was generous enough to pay for the cookie of a police officer who went to his counter at the Katy Mills Mall in Katy, Texas.
According to the employees mother who related the story on a Facebook post, the police officer thanked her 18-year-old son and went on his way.
The family behind him was not as magnanimous.
They walked to the counter and demanded, “are you going to buy mine too?” The employee responded, “I’m sorry I bought his because he is wearing a badge.” They began calling him a racist and threatened to “beat him up,” according to the post.
“His wife threatened to go back there and slap him,” the post read. “The middle aged man sat down his little daughter and tried to come behind the counter to attack him. Thankfully his coworker defused the situation.”
“As soon as this man started the attack my son, he stepped back and walked away,” the post continued, “he said very little to this man.”
According to the employee’s mother, he was told to bring his belongings to a meeting with the managers the next day. Although one manager wanted him fired, the other defended him, saying he was an excellent worker and had been offered a raise previous to the altercation.
However, after he worked for a few hours, he was told that he would be suspended for a week.
“Since when does buying a police officer a cookie give anyone else a reason to attack someone,” his mother asked. “And when did a Corporation want to FIRE someone for being KIND, taking what a customer said or did, regardless of how hateful they are.”
“Great American Cookie Company you FAILED on this one……” she concluded. “Thankfully my son said he would do it again in a heartbeat.”
The story, however, took a turn after her post went viral. It has nearly 4,000 comments and more than 6,000 shares.
The company reversed itself and offered this statement to the Houston Chronicle:
On behalf of Great American Cookies Katy Mills, we owe the employee an apology. It was never an issue that he purchased a brownie for a police officer, but rather the events that unfolded with another customer in line at the time. However, after further review, we realize that the employee was in fact in the right and we continue to reach out to him and his mom to issue an apology. The corrective action and suspension was reversed immediately and we hope to connect with him today.
David Kaiser, executive vice president at Great American Cookies, added his own statement. “Great American Cookies proudly supports Law Enforcement, First Responders and all who serve our country,” he wrote. “Though our stores are independently managed and operated, when the situation first arose, we reached out to the franchisee to ensure that the situation was addressed and handled appropriately.”
Some tie these kinds of stories about hostility towards police officers to movements like the Black Lives Matter protests. In December, six police officers were told they had to leave a Tacoma, Washington, Cheesecake Factory because they were carrying guns. In October, a woman was trying to buy balloons for a fallen police officer’s memorial service in Pennsylvania but was refused because the clerk didn’t support police officers.
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